From Keychain Load To Clear Bras: Some Obvious And Not-so-Obvious Car Care Tips

Upkeep on a vehicle is a big responsibility, and while taking it in to get regularly serviced is definitely part of the job, there are several other approaches a car owner should take as well to eliminate safety concerns and retain value. Different maintenance suggestions may apply as the seasons and temperatures change, however, there are several year-round duties that work to ensure you get a long-lasting life out of your car and enhance its performance. From lightening your key load to XPEL clear bra for paint protection, some of these tips are obvious (yet still go ignored), and others you may be hearing for the first time.

Keep Your Keychain on the Lighter Side

It’s fun to collect keychains and natural to have house keys, car keys, office keys, etc. all together to lessen the risk of losing one, but that could actually be damaging your ignition. The heaviness of excessive items hanging from the ignition coupled with the bouncing action that occurs while you’re driving can wear out the ignition switch in a much quicker manner than it would if you were operating with only one or two keys.

Keychain Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkn/3041590472/

Practice Tire Safety

Of course, tires are an essential component to a running vehicle, but their maintenance is still all too often overlooked. Uneven tread wear, under-inflation or over-inflation, overloading, overheating and unbalanced tires can all lead to hazardous driving conditions and more out-of-pocket expenses for you in the long run. Keep the pressure in your tires up, examine them consistently for signs of wear or damage, consult the owner’s manual for instructions on rotation frequency, check for appropriate balance and alignment, don’t surpass the maximum load range, avoid especially hot road conditions, spend the money to replace tires when needed and make sure you’re purchasing suitable ones for your car and its environment.

Set of tires. Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOld_tires_1.jpg

Maintain All Fluids

You know your car needs its oil changed, but do you do it often enough? You are aware that your car is vulnerable to overheating, so do you keep your coolant refreshed and at a good level? Has your transmission fluid ever been checked? Is your brake fluid attracting more moisture every day that you just let it sit there? All of these fluids are critical for the maintenance of your vehicle and without regular checkups and replacement, your car parts become susceptible to corrosion, buildup and eventual failure. Make sure you keep a regular maintenance schedule for your car that includes checking and replacing essential fluids.

Don’t Gas Up When You See a Tanker

Filling up at a gas station while a tanker is there replenishing the fuel tanks is not a good idea. The turbulence of this action actually causes sediment to scatter in the underground tanks, making it easier for them to then end up in your gas tank if you choose that moment to pump your fuel. Sediments can wreak havoc in fuel filters and injectors, so if you can, hit up another gas station or wait a couple days to return.

Get Paint Protection

The paint job on your vehicle serves as one of the first indications of its value as well as points out how you take care of your possessions, so you want it to be sure it leaves a good impression. Preserving that shiny, scratch-free exterior can be one of the most difficult responsibilities a car owner has since there are constant perils to contend with (flying rocks, bird poop, harmful UV rays, bug splatters, runaway shopping carts, etc.), but fortunately, newer developments in paint protection films have made it much easier. 3M Clear Bras and XPEL clear bras are two such products that offer defense against these everyday threats.

Car in need of a paint restoration. Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/4356437541/

These car care rules of thumb should keep your vehicle on the road for a longer amount of time and allow you to preserve its new car appearance and value for several extra years.

Tiffany Olson

Tiffany Olson hails from majestic Northern California and blogs regularly on auto related topics. She loves to share knowledge with others through writing and social media. When she's not at her keyboard you'll usually find her taking a road trip, baking cookies, or reading a book.

On 09/01/2016 / Safety / Comments Off on From Keychain Load To Clear Bras: Some Obvious And Not-so-Obvious Car Care Tips